The Chittagong Hill Tracts, often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering India and Myanmar (Burma). Covering 13,295 square kilometres (5,133 sq mi), they formed a single district until 1984, when they were divided into three districts: Khagrachari District, Rangamati Hill District, and Bandarban District.
The Chakma people, are an ethnic group from the eastern-most regions of the Indian subcontinent. They are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of southeastern Bangladesh, and the second-largest in Mizoram, India. Other places in Northeast India also have significant Chakma populations. Around 60,000 Chakma people live in Arunachal Pradesh, India; a first generation migrated there in 1964 after the construction of the Kaptai Dam forced them off their lands. Another 79,000 Chakmas live in Tripura, India, and 20,000-30,000 in Assam, India.
The Marma, also known as Moghs, Mogs or Maghs, are the second-largest ethnic community in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, primarily residing in the Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati Hill Districts. Some Marmas live in Bangladesh's coastal districts of Cox's Bazar and Patuakhali, while others live in Tripura, India and Myanmar. There are about 324,261 Marmas living in Bangladesh and 35,722 of them living in India. Since the 16th century, the Marma have considered the Bengal's Chittagong Hill Tracts their home, where they have established the Bohmong and Mong Circles (chiefdoms).
Raja Tridiv Roy sometimes spelled Tridev Roy, was a Pakistani politician, diplomat and writer who was the Minister of the Minority Affairs in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto cabinet. He was also the 50th Raja/King of the Chakma tribe in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of present-day Bangladesh from 2 May 1953, until his abdication in 1971 following the Bangladesh Liberation War. He chose to remain a Pakistani when Bangladesh achieved independence in 1971. He became known as a writer, diplomat, Buddhist religious leader and politician in Pakistan.
Buddhism is the third-largest religious affiliation and formed about 0.63% of the population of Bangladesh. It is said that Buddha once in his life came to this region of East Bengal to spread his teachings and he was successful in converting the local people to Buddhism, specially in the Chittagong division and later on Pala empire propagate and patronized Buddhist religion throughout the Bengal territory. About 1 million people in Bangladesh adhere to the Theravada school of Buddhism. Over 65% of the Buddhist population is concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region, where it is the predominant faith of the Rakhine, Chakma, Marma, Tanchangya, other Jumma people and the Barua. The remaining 35% are Bengali Buddhists. Buddhist communities are present in the urban centers of Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong and Dhaka.
Khagrachari is a district in the Chittagong Division of Southeastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region.
Chakma language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Chakma and Daingnet people. The language has common features with other languages in the region like the Chittagonian, Tanchangya, Arakanese and others. It is spoken by around 380,000 people. 150,000 of these are in southeast Bangladesh, primarily the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and another 230,000 in India, including 97,000 in Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. It is written using the Chakma script, but literacy in this script is low.
Manabendra Narayan Larma, also known as M.N. Larma, was a Jumma Chakma politician and Member of Parliament of Bangladesh. A leading proponent of the rights of the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, he was the founding leader of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was a peace agreement signed between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, the political organisation that controlled the Shanti Bahini militia on 2 December 1997. The accord allowed for the recognition of the rights of the peoples and tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region and ended the decades-long insurgency between the Shanti Bahini and government forces.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict was a political and armed conflict between the government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini, over the issue of autonomy and the land rights of Jumma people, mainly for Chakma people and the other indigenous of Chittagong Hill Tracts. Shanti Bahini launched an insurgency against government forces in 1977, when the country was under military rule, and the conflict continued for twenty years until the government and the PCJSS signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997.
Censorship in Bangladesh refers to the government censorship of the press and infringement of freedom of speech. Article 39 of the constitution of Bangladesh protects free speech.
Kheyang is the exonym of the Hyow. There Kheyang or the Hyow (খিয়াং), are a group of indigenous people inhabiting in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The word Kheyang originated in khlɔng (see VanBik, 2009: 3–4), which means personin the language. The endonym Hyow means Chin. The Khyang are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Bangladesh with a population of only 2,345 according to the 1991 census. At present, the approximate number of the Khyang in Bangladesh is 4500. They live in Kaptai and Chandraghona in Rangamati Hill District and in Bandarban Sadar, Thanchi and Rowangcchari upazila in Bandarban District. . In Myanmar, they live in the Myebon, Minbya and Ann townships of the Rakhine State.
Bangladeshis are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
The Jumma people is a term usually referred to the minority tribal group of people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, who used to claim a separate state called Jummaland. They include the Chakma, Arakanese (Rakhine), Marma, Tripuri, Tanchangya, Chak, Pankho, Mru, Bawm, Lushai, Khyang, and Khumi.
The Daingnet people, also known as the Thetkama people are an ethnic group indigenous to northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to their own internal census in 1995 they numbered about 60,000. In 2011, the number is estimated to be around 80,000. From appearance they are indistinguishable from the Rakhine people; however, the Daingnet people have a distinct language and culture. Ethnically, they are closely related to the Chakma people of Bangladesh and Northeast India. The languages of the Daingnet and Chakma people are mutually intelligible. Daingnet people are one of 135 ethnic groups officially recognized by the Myanmar government as indigenous to Myanmar. Daingnets are one of the Tibeto-Burman tribes. Genetically they are closely related to the Tibetans, Burmans and Rakhines.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts lies in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh adjoining international boundaries with Myanmar on the southeast, the Indian states of Tripura on the north and Mizoram on the east. The Chittagong Hill Tracts, formally a single unified district was divided into three separate districts: Khagrachari, Bandarban, and Rangamati during the administrative reorganization in 1984.
Kalparanjan Chakma was a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a Minister of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs. He helped negotiate the release of two Danes and a Briton kidnapped by Shanti Bahini members in Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The Bangladesh Film Censor Board is a regulatory agency that is responsible for the censorship of movies and is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Bohmong Circle is one of three hereditary chiefdoms in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of modern-day Bangladesh. The jurisdiction of the Bohmong Circle encompasses parts of Bandarban District. The chiefdom's members are of Marma descent and are known as ragraisa. Most inhabitants of the Mong Circle settled in the south during a migration wave from the Kingdom of Mrauk U between the 16th and 18th centuries, while inhabitants of the other Marma chiefdom, the Mong Circle, settled in the northwest and are known as phalansa (ဖလံသား).
Chakma cinema, often known as Chakwood and formerly known as Chakma film, is the Chakma language film industry based in Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The first Chakma film, Tanyabi Firti, directed by Satarupa Sanyal was released on 19 July 2005. Tanyabi's Lake is the first Video film to have a commercial screening at a theatre. As the production of video films gained momentum, the Chakma film industry got expanded and around 3-10 films are made each year. Mor Thengari is the first Bangladeshi Chakma language film telling a story for the first time in an indigenous language in Bangladesh.
